Carbon Strategy towards Net Zero…
…and a just and regenerative future.
Since the Industrial Revolution, human activity has significantly increased greenhouse gas emissions, placing growing pressure on our climate, ecosystems and communities.
Park Ecovillage Trust is committed to a just and regenerative future in which people can thrive within ecological limits. We are working with the Ecovillage and wider community towards Net Zero by reducing emissions, strengthening resilience and restoring the living systems on which we depend.
For PET, Net Zero is about more than balancing emissions. It means changing how we use energy, travel, manage buildings and land, consume resources and support our local economy.
Our approach
We focus on:
- reducing emissions at source and moving away from fossil fuels;
- building energy resilience and sovereignty through renewable energy, efficiency and shared solutions;
- using resources more wisely, reducing waste and supporting circular approaches;
- restoring nature, including soils, biodiversity and healthy ecosystems;
- strengthening community resilience through learning, participation and local action.
Our journey towards Net Zero is an ongoing process of measuring, reducing, transforming and regenerating. Where unavoidable residual emissions remain, we seek to address them responsibly through carefully considered climate and ecological initiatives.
Climate action should be creative
We believe that creating change doesn’t always have to begin with a spreadsheet.
- Art, creativity and imagination can help us see familiar things differently, explore difficult questions and discover new possibilities.
- At Ecovillage Findhorn, we have a long tradition of using creativity as a way of learning, connecting and imagining the future. We want to bring that spirit into our climate work too.
- Art can help make invisible things visible: a carbon footprint, a changing landscape, an energy system, a relationship with place.
- It can also make climate action more joyful, playful and participatory.
We see opportunities for artists, makers, storytellers, musicians, designers, educators and community members to explore climate and regeneration together, through exhibitions, installations, performances, workshops, events and creative experiments.
What if the journey to Net Zero could also be an adventure to inspire change?
A whole-community transition
Climate and ecological action cannot be achieved by PET alone. We invite residents, organisations, businesses, visitors, artists, event organisers and community groups to take part.
Our aim is to make climate action part of everyday community life, through shared learning, practical tools, creativity and opportunities to work together.
There is no single way to participate. You can measure, make, grow, repair, share, learn, imagine, create or simply start a conversation.
We believe communities can live well and equitably while respecting the limits of the living systems on which we all depend.
ZEN Partnership. Zero Emissions Network at Ecovillage Findhorn
The ZEN Partnership is one practical way of putting PET’s Carbon Strategy into action.
The ZEN Partnership invites everyone who visits, hosts, teaches, learns, celebrates or gathers at Ecovillage Findhorn to consider the environmental impact of their journey and support the transition towards a more regenerative future.
We recognise the value of meeting in person. Retreats, workshops, conferences, celebrations and community gatherings create opportunities for connection, learning, inspiration and transformation.
At the same time, travel, particularly long-distance travel, has an environmental impact.
ZEN follows the same principle as our wider Carbon Strategy: reduce first, then take responsibility for what remains.
Reduce travel impacts first
We encourage visitors and event organisers to consider lower-impact travel wherever practical:
- rail and public transport
- shared journeys
- reducing unnecessary travel
- combining trips and making longer, more purposeful stays
- considering travel impacts when planning events.
Support climate and regeneration
Where travel emissions cannot be avoided, visitors, hosts and organisers are invited to make a voluntary contribution towards meaningful climate action and ecological regeneration.
ZEN contributions can support carefully selected initiatives, including local regenerative work around Ecovillage Findhorn and wider climate and ecosystem projects.
Our aim is not simply to “cancel” the impact of a journey. We want contributions to create real environmental and social value, restoring habitats and biodiversity, improving soils, supporting woodland and ecological restoration, and strengthening resilience for people and planet.
ZEN contributions complement emissions reduction; they do not replace it.
No blame. No perfection.
ZEN isn’t about guilt or expecting people to eliminate their environmental impact completely.
It’s about awareness, responsibility and participation — and finding positive ways to contribute to the places and communities we are part of.
Every journey can become part of a wider journey towards regeneration.
Measuring our carbon footprint
Measuring emissions is an important first step in understanding where change is needed.
PET signposts a free-to-use carbon calculator for individuals, households, organisations and businesses. It can help users understand emissions from energy, travel, food, consumption and other everyday activities, track progress and identify opportunities for reduction.
Measure → Understand → Reduce → Regenerate
And perhaps, where appropriate:
Measure it. Draw it. Share it. Change it.
Energy sovereignty
PET is continuing to investigate and invest in greater energy sovereignty for the Ecovillage.
We are exploring ways to strengthen local, renewable and resilient energy systems, improve energy efficiency and develop shared solutions that reduce fossil-fuel dependence while increasing community resilience.
Energy is not just a technical challenge — it is an opportunity to imagine how our community can power itself differently.
Supporting local regeneration
Reducing emissions is only part of the transition. We also want to help restore the natural systems that sustain us.
PET is developing opportunities to support locally rooted regeneration projects, including habitat and biodiversity restoration, healthier soils, woodland and tree planting, ecological restoration and resilient local food and land-based systems.
We want these projects to be places of learning, participation and creativity, where people can experience regeneration rather than simply read about it.
Our aim is to build a growing portfolio of projects that community members, organisations and visitors can support, contributing to a healthier, more resilient and regenerative regional economy.
Get involved
There are many ways to contribute to PET’s Carbon Strategy.
- Measure your footprint.
- Reduce your emissions.
- Explore energy sovereignty.
- Join the ZEN Partnership.
- Support local regeneration.
- Make something.
- Share what you learn.
- Start a conversation.
Together, we can reduce our impact, restore the living systems around us, and imagining what comes next.
Welcoming you and partnering together to restore balance.
The Park Ecovillage Findhorn: Towards Carbon Neutrality by 2030
Carbon Footprint
Measuring emissions is an important first step towards understanding and reducing our environmental impact.
PET signposts a free-to-use carbon calculator for individuals, households, organisations and businesses, helping estimate annual greenhouse gas emissions from activities such as energy use, travel, food and consumption.
Understanding where emissions come from can help us identify opportunities for reduction and make more informed choices about energy, transport, buildings, food and resources.
The calculator can help you:
- estimate your annual emissions
- identify your main sources of emissions
- find opportunities to reduce them
- track progress over time
- make lower-impact choices at home, at work and in the community.
The calculator also offers an optional carbon offsetting function. PET’s approach is to reduce emissions at source first, followed by ecological regeneration and other meaningful climate action. Where unavoidable residual emissions remain, carefully selected carbon removal or ecosystem restoration may have a complementary role.
Making your results useful
Use the Comment box to record your assumptions, data sources and activities. This makes your assessment easier to understand and repeat, helping you track changes over time.
Measure → Understand → Reduce → Regenerate
This is the approach we encourage as part of PET’s wider journey towards Net Zero
Carbon and beyond
As part of our journey towards Net Zero, we invite everyone at Ecovillage Findhorn and across the wider community to understand, track and gradually reduce the emissions connected with everyday life, from heating and electricity to travel, food and consumption.
Our priority is to reduce emissions at source by moving away from fossil fuels, using energy wisely and finding lower-impact ways to manage our buildings, land and resources. We are also continuing to invest in and explore ways to strengthen our energy sovereignty, building greater local resilience through renewable energy, shared solutions and more efficient use of resources. At the same time, we want to help restore and strengthen the living systems on which people and nature depend.
Supporting local regeneration
Where emissions cannot yet be avoided, PET is developing opportunities to support local ecological regeneration, including habitat and biodiversity restoration, healthier soils, woodland and tree planting, and resilient local food and land-based systems.
These initiatives are not simply about balancing emissions. They are part of a wider vision for a healthier, more resilient and regenerative region where people and nature can thrive together.
We encourage organisations and individuals whose guests travel long distances to Ecovillage Findhorn, particularly by air, to consider the impact of that travel and make a voluntary contribution towards meaningful climate and regeneration projects.
We recognise that carbon offsetting can be controversial, even though it has played an important historical role in climate action. However, many organisations are now moving toward direct emissions reduction and place-based ecological regeneration, as these approaches create clearer accountability, stronger local benefit, and more durable climate impact.
We recommend that organisations and individuals in the community whose guests travel long distances to Ecovillage, especially when flying, consider balancing travel emissions.
Carbon Strategy
PET is developing a Net Zero and regeneration strategy focused on:
- measuring and reducing emissions across our activities and operations;
- moving away from fossil fuels and adopting lower-impact, circular and regenerative approaches;
- supporting local ecological regeneration, including healthier soils, biodiversity and resilient ecosystems;
- addressing unavoidable residual emissions responsibly, with local action prioritised and external carbon removal considered where appropriate.
Carbon Action Group
PET invited residents of the Park to explore practical ways of reducing household greenhouse gas emissions while strengthening community resilience and ecological responsibility.
Funded by the Berry Burn Fund, the Carbon Action Group supported the wider community aspiration of moving towards Net Zero through emissions reduction, behaviour change, shared learning and local regenerative action.
Participants shared knowledge, experiences and practical solutions around energy, transport, consumption, food and everyday choices, helping inspire lower-impact lifestyles and wider community engagement. Related initiatives also supported Park organisations and businesses to adopt lower-carbon, more regenerative approaches that benefit both people and the environment.
The programme recognised that meaningful climate action requires both practical emissions reduction and deeper cultural and systemic change. It was grounded in the community’s core principle of being part of nature — recognising that our individual and collective choices can contribute to the wellbeing of people and the living systems on which we all depend.
Funded by Berryburn Community Fund
